- 15 Oct 2007 07:37
#1355009
I've been compiling a small database all day based on some sources I have, and thought I may as well share it.
My interest is members of the Soviet 'A-list' under Stalin, the way they lived, worked and in particular what their wives did. In order to assess the society I've been looking through lists of residents of the first real apartment building for top Soviets in Moscow, the House of Government (Dom pravitel'stva) aka the House on the Embankment (Dom na naberezhnoy).
What I've been doing is looking at lists of the 140 members (and candidate members) of the Communist Party Central Committee in 1934 and working out who of them lived at this block of apartments, which of those who lived there were shot during the purges, which survived, which had family there etc. etc.
Some quick stats are as follows.
140 - number of people elected to the Central Committee in 1934.
41% - percentage of that committee who lived in the House.
50% - percentage of that committee who lived there or had family who lived there.
76% - percentage of residents there in the Central Committee of 1934 who lost their lives in the Stalinist purges (ie - dead by 1940).
If you look at things more closely though, you see a pattern...
48% - percentage of CC 1934 candidate members who lived at the House
34% - percentage of CC 1934 full members who lived at the House
82% - percentage of CC 1934 candidate members who lived at the House that were repressed
60% - percentage of Politburo candidate members (at 10/2/1934) who lived at the House
20% - percentage of Politburo full members (at 10/2/1934) who lived at the House
20% - percentage of Politburo full (10%) and candidate (40%) members repressed
In short, the House on the Embankment was reserved for the next tier of political figures down from the top. Which is why more candidate members of the Politburo and candidate members of the Central Committee lived there. And the purges of the late 1930s only got rid of 1 of the 10 top politicians in the country, while they absolutely obliterated the central committee, particularly its candidate membership. In other words, the great purges were very much about killing off one section of the population - not the very top dogs, not the non-Party members, but those fairly high up administrators.
When you keep in mind that 'only' some 1 in 3 residents of the House on the Embankment were repressed according to most figures, the fact that 75% or so of central committee people were repressed means that even in the elite community, the purges had a very specific target.
My interest is members of the Soviet 'A-list' under Stalin, the way they lived, worked and in particular what their wives did. In order to assess the society I've been looking through lists of residents of the first real apartment building for top Soviets in Moscow, the House of Government (Dom pravitel'stva) aka the House on the Embankment (Dom na naberezhnoy).
What I've been doing is looking at lists of the 140 members (and candidate members) of the Communist Party Central Committee in 1934 and working out who of them lived at this block of apartments, which of those who lived there were shot during the purges, which survived, which had family there etc. etc.
Some quick stats are as follows.
140 - number of people elected to the Central Committee in 1934.
41% - percentage of that committee who lived in the House.
50% - percentage of that committee who lived there or had family who lived there.
76% - percentage of residents there in the Central Committee of 1934 who lost their lives in the Stalinist purges (ie - dead by 1940).
If you look at things more closely though, you see a pattern...
48% - percentage of CC 1934 candidate members who lived at the House
34% - percentage of CC 1934 full members who lived at the House
82% - percentage of CC 1934 candidate members who lived at the House that were repressed
60% - percentage of Politburo candidate members (at 10/2/1934) who lived at the House
20% - percentage of Politburo full members (at 10/2/1934) who lived at the House
20% - percentage of Politburo full (10%) and candidate (40%) members repressed
In short, the House on the Embankment was reserved for the next tier of political figures down from the top. Which is why more candidate members of the Politburo and candidate members of the Central Committee lived there. And the purges of the late 1930s only got rid of 1 of the 10 top politicians in the country, while they absolutely obliterated the central committee, particularly its candidate membership. In other words, the great purges were very much about killing off one section of the population - not the very top dogs, not the non-Party members, but those fairly high up administrators.
When you keep in mind that 'only' some 1 in 3 residents of the House on the Embankment were repressed according to most figures, the fact that 75% or so of central committee people were repressed means that even in the elite community, the purges had a very specific target.